Data access control systems and methods

ABSTRACT

Various hardware and software configurations are described herein which provide improved security and control over protected data. In some embodiments, a computer includes a main motherboard card coupled to all input/output devices connected to the computer, and a trusted operating system operates on the main motherboard which includes an access control module for controlling access to the protected data in accordance with rules. The trusted operating system stores the protected data in an unprotected form only on the memory devices on the main motherboard. The computer may also have a computer card coupled to the main motherboard via a PCI bus, on which is operating a guest operating system session for handling requests for data from software applications on the computer. A tamper detection mechanism is provided in the computer for protecting against attempts to copy the unprotected form of the protected data onto memory devices other than the one or more memory devices used by the motherboard or computer card.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/307,394, filed Jun. 17, 2014 (U.S. Pat. No. 9,171,176), which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/756,824, filed onJun. 1, 2007 (U.S. Pat. No. 8,800,008), which claims the benefit ofprovisional patent application No. 60/803,683, entitled “DATA ACCESSCONTROL” filed Jun. 1, 2006, which are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to methods and devices for controlling access todata.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A computer system and associated methods and devices for distributingprotected data and controlling access to and use of such data inaccordance with rules are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.5,933,498 to Schneck et at entitled “System for Controlling Access andDistribution of Digital Property,” which issued on Aug. 3, 1999, theentire contents of which patent are incorporated herein by reference.

The ongoing advancement of computer hardware and software technologies,and the widespread use of networks such as the internet to distributecontent in digital form, necessitate continued improvements intechnologies for protecting digital content during distribution and use.The present inventions provide various improved configurations ofhardware and/or software for controlling access to protected digitalcontent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various hardware and software configurations are described herein whichprovide improved security and control over protected data. In someembodiments, a computer or computing system including multiple computersis provided. The computer includes a main motherboard card, having oneor more first processors and one or more first memory devices such asRAM, being coupled to all input/output devices connected to the computerto input data into the computer or output data from the computer, suchas hard or optical disk drives, USB ports, or network interfaces. Atrusted operating system is programmed to operate on the mainmotherboard, and includes an access control module for controllingaccess to the protected data in accordance with one or more rules. Therules may be specified in tickets received from a ticket server. Thetrusted operating system stores the protected data in an unprotectedform, for example, when it has been decrypted, only on the first memorydevices on the main motherboard.

In accordance with some embodiments, the computer may also have acomputer card, having one or more second processors and one or moresecond memory devices, which is coupled to the main motherboard via aPCI bus. One or more guest operating system sessions may be running onthe one or more computer cards for handling requests for data from oneor more software applications on the computer. The software applicationsare usable to access and process the protected data in its unprotectedform.

In some embodiments, a tamper detection mechanism is provided in thecomputer for protecting against attempts to copy the unprotected form ofthe protected data onto memory devices other than the one or more firstor second memory devices. The tamper detection mechanism may furtherdisable any further access to the protected data in its unprotected formby, for example, deleting any decryption keys used to decrypt and thusunprotect the protected data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawingswhich are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, in which likereferences are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts, and inwhich:

FIG. 1 presents an exemplary embodiment of an architecture of aVeriFIDES client/server system;

FIG. 2 presents a preferred embodiment of an originator/recipientarchitecture implementing the VeriFIDES system;

FIG. 3 presents an alternative embodiment of the VeriFIDES systemcomprising a motherboard and communicatively coupled processing board;

FIG. 4 presents an alternative embodiment of the VeriFIDES systemcomprising VeriFIDES logic implemented as a PCI bridge.

FIG. 5 presents an alternative embodiment of the VeriFIDES systemcomprising the VeriFIDES system implemented as a co-processor;

FIG. 6 presents an exemplary system of the present invention comprisingthe VeriFIDES system residing on a separate peripheral card;

FIG. 7 presents a further embodiment of a guest operating system runningon a card connected to a main computer;

FIG. 8 presents a taxonomy of ticket types on a machine;

FIG. 9 comprises a diagram illustrating how VeriFIDES can be used tolimit the sphere of compromise of data;

FIG. 10 illustrates an alternative embodiment utilizing a remote desktopdesign for implementing the VeriFIDES system;

FIG. 11 provides an alternative embodiment for providing sessionconnections to the VeriFIDES enabled PC;

FIG. 12 illustrates a method for monitoring incoming network packets ina preferred embodiment; and

FIG. 13 illustrates a method for monitoring outgoing network packets ina preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way ofillustration specific embodiments in which the invention may bepracticed. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilizedand structural changes may be made without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of an architecture of a client/serversystem according to the invention, which system shall be referred toherein as VeriFIDES™ in its various embodiments described herein. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the VeriFIDES client/server architecture includesa VeriFIDES machine 101 and a VeriFIDES server 102. Within the VeriFIDESmachine 101, a VeriFIDES operating system 103 runs separately from aplurality of user operating systems 104 and 105 running on the VeriFIDESmachine 101. The VeriFIDES operating system 103 may contain an accesscontrol mechanism comprising a small footprint software component thatexecutes on trusted hardware 106 underneath operating systems 104 and105, as described further below.

The user operating systems 104 and 105 are the operating systems thatcontrol user interactions with the machine and which receive requestsfrom the user to access information stored in the machine or elsewhere.In a preferred embodiment the VeriFIDES system never trusts operatingsystems 104 and 105. As a result, applications 107 a-b,protocols/drivers 107 c-d, and even the kernels themselves residentwithin the operating systems 104 and 105 may be compromised without lossof the security of the system. The compromise of applications,protocols, drivers or the kernels resident within the operating systemsmay lead to a denial of service, but a denial of service is preferableto leaking information.

The kernels for the user operating systems 104 and 105 and VeriFIDESoperating system 103, although not illustrated, are resident within theoperating systems operating between applications and hardware, orperceived hardware. The structure of an operating system is commonlyunderstood in the art.

All, input and output in the system comes from the access controlmechanism resident in the VeriFIDES operating system 103. Input andoutput may include network, USB, CD-ROM and floppy traffic via thetrusted hardware 106. This ensures that before any data ever makes itinto the hands of the user, the VeriFIDES system has had time to examineit and to make decisions about whether this user has the right to seethis information.

Sensitive information is protected by encryption. Data is alwaysencrypted until it gets into the memory on the user's operating system104 or 105. This ensures that even if hard drives are lost, or datagiven to rogue users, the data cannot be examined unless access wasspecifically granted to that user. The VeriFIDES operating system 103may encrypt data via any encryption means known in the art such as RSA,DSA, IDEA, etc.

Access to information is controlled through tickets. A ticket generallygrants the user the right to access protected content protected by theVeriFIDES system. A ticket consists of the content decryption key and aset of access rights authorized for the end-user. In a preferredembodiment, particular permissions to that user may include how longthey can see the document, whether or not they can print or performother operations on the document, etc. This is how originator control isretained; the originator only grants the permissions that he or shewishes to. The use of tickets lets the originator pre-stage data; inparticular, they may send out the document ahead of time, and then grantpermissions to individuals as they require it. The concept of tickets isdescribed more fully with respect to FIG. 8.

A VeriFIDES server 102 contains a ticket server 112 responsible formaintaining a list of the known VeriFIDES enabled computers, a list ofprotected data and their associated encryption keys. In addition, theticket servers maintain the associations between access rights andprotected content.

A VeriFIDES server 102 is further responsible for all of theadministration of the (possibly many) VeriFIDES machines 101 it is incharge of. This includes granting tickets, revoking tickets, looking ataccess patterns, etc. A VeriFIDES server 102 has a working knowledge ofwhat is going on with all of the machines it is in charge of, generallythrough the a plurality of audit logs.

Audit logs are located within and processed by the audit server 108. Allactions on any VeriFIDES machine 101 are logged and sent over to theVeriFIDES audit server 108. These logs can then be viewed by theoriginator or administrator, and appropriate actions can be taken, suchas revocation of tickets, disciplinary action, etc.

In one aspect, an application of the audit and logging functionality ofthe VeriFIDES server 102 is provided that can be used to drasticallyreduce the scope of questionable data in the event of a compromise. Inanother aspect, a modification to the way in which VeriFIDES processestickets is provided that allows for ‘state-based’ access control overdata.

Other audit and logging tools of the prior art can perform similarfunctions for narrowing the sphere of compromise. Technologies such asApple's iPod perform ‘state-based’ access control. However, such othertools cannot guarantee the integrity or fidelity of their audit logs.Also, Apple's iPod only works on specific data formats and platforms.

In accordance with the present invention, to limit the sphere ofcompromise, the VeriFIDES audit logs indicate what particular files/dataa user had a ticket for. Additionally, since all I/O in the computergoes through VeriFIDES, the logs indicate when and how particular filesare accessed. Finally, since the logs are being generated beneath (andthus unaware of by) the operating system, much greater guarantees aboutthe integrity of the logs can be provided. Thus, in the event ofcompromise, it is possible to know exactly what files a particular userhad tickets or decryption keys for, when those files were accessed, andwhat type of access (view, copy, print, etc.) occurred.

In one embodiment, the VeriFIDES system involves running multipleinstances of an operating system 104 and 105, such as Windows, (calledthe “guests”) on a non-persistent disk in VMWare on Linux 103 (calledthe “host”). All of the VeriFIDES logic, decision making, and accesscontrol happens on the host, so that the user doesn't have any influenceover these parameters. All of the services that the guests may need areserved up through the host, including, but not limited to: NTP, DNS, USBconnectivity, CDROM I/O, CD burning, hard drive, email, andinternet/web. Embodiments utilizing multiple operating system sessionsare described more fully with respect to FIGS. 10-11.

Returning to FIG. 1, the access control daemon, which is the heart ofthe VeriFIDES operating system 103, is a process that continually runson the host system. All processes running on guest operating systems104-105 come to access control to find out if they are allowed to dowhat they are currently doing, and if so, how to decrypt that data. Bothof the preceding decisions are based on the tickets currently openand/or the tickets available to be opened. Without a ticket, accesscontrol will not allow any process to decrypt data from disk. With aproper ticket, however, access control will give the requesting processthe key to decrypt the data, and that process will then go and decryptit.

FIG. 8 presents a taxonomy of ticket types on a machine. In a preferredembodiment of the present invention, there are 2 classes of tickets:AUTHENTICATION and DATA. In addition, there are 4 types of tickets: user304, file 302, host 303, and connection 301. In particular,AUTHENTICATION TICKETS may be user and host, while DATA TICKETS may befile and connection. Authentication tickets may allow users and othermachines to authenticate themselves with the VeriFIDES machine. Datatickets may control access to protected content.

User Tickets 304 may define a user on the machine. They may contain ausername and a domain that specify the user's identity. They also maycontain userKey fields in the authentication section which will becompared against the data the user provides during authentication. TheseuserKeys would contain a hash of a passphrase, a secret number in asmartcard, characteristics of a fingerprint, etc. User tickets 304 mayalso contain permissions indicating the usage restrictions for that userirregardless of any data accessed.

File Tickets 302 may be bound to a protected file or set of protectedfiles. They may contain the symmetric key needed to decrypt the file.This type is used not only for files, but also for static web pages andemails. They may contain a permissions section which restricts the stateof the session after the file has been accessed.

Host Tickets 303 are a special case in that they do not directly enablecommunication for the user. They may contain the public key of otherVeriFIDES machines that this machine may want to talk to. This serves asa Public Key Infrastructure. This ticket is required to allow accesscontrol to communicate with other machines while sending audit logs,requesting tickets, or negotiating network connections with otherVeriFIDES machines or gateways on behalf of the user of the guestmachine. This ticket lacks information regarding authentication orpermissions because it is used by access control rather than the user onthe guest machine. A machine must be pre-staged with at least one Hostticket. This will be the host ticket of its trusted Ticket Server.

Connection Tickets 301 may define a connection that a guest machine canmake to another VeriFIDES machine or gateway. Connection tickets 301 maycontain a symmetric key to encrypt network traffic using thatconnection. In some embodiments, connection tickets 301 may not containa key because the key may be negotiated with the other host by accesscontrol. The connection tickets 304 may define the machine, othermachine, port, server vs. client access, and service that can beaccessed. Wildcards may be used to allow this connection ticket to applyto any port or to allow it to apply to communication initiated by eitherend.

Each ticket contains a binding which is used to associate the ticketwith a piece of protected data it is intended to grant access to. In apreferred embodiment, a ticket will contain a binding that will also befound in the footer of a protected file. VeriFIDES compares the bindingin the file with the bindings in tickets to determine which ticket todecrypt the file with.

In any session, the set of open bindings defines the “context” of thatsession. This “context” describes who is accessing what protected data.This context will be used to support derivative works.

Tickets will also describe “permissions” that will be used to restrictthe use of the data protected by that ticket. Each session will maintainan intersection of the permissions of all its open tickets/bindings. Forexample, accessed data is protected by Ticket A and Ticket B. Ticket A'spermissions require that your external media be read only. Ticket B'spermissions shut off printing and require the session to end at 5:00 PM.The session is now in a state that combines all those restrictions.

The ticket identifier tells access control what and who this ticket ismeant to be used for. It is one of the few fields that is dynamicdepending on the ticket type. Tickets will either specify a user or usea wildcard that allows use by any user with the ability to log into themachine.

Tickets will only be able to be used to open documents while in asession at a specified classification level unless the ticket contains awildcard that indicates that the ticket can be used to access datawithin any protected session on that machine.

The authentication methods of a ticket higher in FIG. 8 override themethods specified by ticket lower in FIG. 8 if they are morerestrictive. For example, a user ticket may contain keys forfingerprint, smartcard, and passphrase but only require the passphrasefor user login. A file ticket may require fingerprint authentication.The system would ask the user for a fingerprint when the user tried toaccess the file. In addition a higher level ticket may override theuserKey required. A specific file might require a different smartcardthan the one the user authenticated with or require a differentpassword.

Appendix A at the end of this specification, and forming part hereof;contains a sample file structure for an XML file for storing anddelivering tickets in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

Returning to FIG. 1, in embodiments of the present invention, theVeriFIDES system incorporates hardware tamper detection/reaction 109,the scaled-down trusted Linux containing the VeriFIDES operating system103 running on the main hardware, and the VeriFIDES access controlmechanism running within the VeriFIDES operating system. The embodimentof FIG. 1 may be modified by adding an additional single board computercard containing the guest operating systems 104-105 and applications 107a-d. The VeriFIDES operating system may remain resident on a mainmotherboard, separate but communicatively coupled to the single boardcomputer card via a bus such as a PCI bus. In the discussion of thisembodiment, references to the operating system are, unless otherwisespecified, references to the guest sessions executing on the singleboard computer card, and references to the computer's RAM refer, unlessotherwise specified, to RAM both on the motherboard and on the singleboard computer card.

All access control and encryption/decryption logic exists in theVeriFIDES operating system 103 (at least one user operating system104-105) and is thus invisible to both the user operating system 104-105and all application software 107 a-b and protocols/drivers 107 c-d. TheVeriFIDES system operates at a level akin to a virtual machine from theperspective of the guest sessions 104-105, in that the guest sessions104-105 are only aware of the hardware on the single board computer cardand motherboard hardware that the VeriFIDES operating system 103 makesvisible. Given that, the VeriFIDES system is transparent to the guestsessions 104-105 and applications 107 a-b and protocols/drivers 107 c-drunning within them.

Protected data exist in decrypted form only in the RAM resident in thetrusted motherboard hardware 106 of the VeriFIDES protected computers101. Data are encrypted when at rest and while in transit. When anapplication in a guest session 104-105 attempts to access data, if theuser is allowed to access that data, the VeriFIDES operating system 103will decrypt that data inside the RAM on the motherboard, and then‘serve’ the data up to the guest session via the PCI bus.

This decrypted data will exist in the RAM on the single board computercard as well, making them accessible to the guest sessions 104-105 andapplications 104-105 running within the guest sessions 104-105. Thus,protected data exist in decrypted form only in the RAM and PCI bus ofboth the motherboard and the single board computer card.

Hardware tamper-detection 109 protects against attempts to copy thedecrypted data from the system's RAM 106 or to load malicious softwareonto the VeriFIDES operating system 103. Given that the VeriFIDESoperating system 103 resides at a level inaccessible to the guestsessions 104-105, it is secure from software attacks launched withinthese sessions, as will be described later. Thus, the only way to getinformation out of the machine would be via some sort of hardware-basedattack such as probing the RAM or PCI bus on either the motherboard orthe single board computer card.

In the architecture presented in FIG. 1, the entire contents of thecomputer's case would need to be protected, preventing probing of eitherPCI bus or RAM banks. VeriFIDES supports interaction with hardwaretamper detection/reaction 109, but does not necessarily specify whattype/strength of detection should be employed. Upon tamper detection.VeriFIDES can immediately zeroize the private key stored within privatekey storage 110, preventing the decryption of tickets, which in turn,prevents the decryption of protected data.

Data cannot leave a VeriFIDES protected operating system session 104-105without being encrypted, unless the document originator gave specificpermission to do so. All data leaving a guest session 104-105 executingon the single board computer card are intercepted by VeriFIDES accesscontrol 103 before they reach the computer's hardware 106 (hard disk,USB bus, network interface, CDRW drive, etc.). Permissions within aticket specify what to do with this data. VeriFIDES access control 103might encrypt the data with a specific symmetric key, prevent the datafrom reaching the hardware (providing a read-only capability), or, inspecial cases, allow the data to be written out un-encrypted.

All tickets are encrypted with a statistically-unique public/private keypair to prevent access to the data encryption key. Each VeriFIDES PC hasa private key embedded in the hardware 110. Tickets are encrypted withthe corresponding public key, ensuring that only the recipient hostmachine is able to decrypt the ticket. This mechanism relies on a publickey infrastructure. The cryptographic plug-in architecture of VeriFIDESsystem allows it to work with virtually any PKI technology.

The VeriFIDES system private key is stored in hardware 110 under theoperating system, protected by tamper-detection/erasure circuitry 109,and thus is not accessible to the operating system 104-105, applicationsoftware 107 a-b or the end user, or a hacker.

As mentioned above, the guest sessions only have access to hardwareexported by the VeriFIDES operating system 103. Thus, the private key ishidden and protected from the guest sessions. Because protection of thisprivate key is critical to VeriFIDES security, tamper detection/reaction109 can be employed in situations where physical attacks on the machineare a concern.

The data encryption key (protected by the encryption ticket) is onlydecrypted and visible in the VeriFIDES access control mechanism 103 andtherefore cannot be used by the operating system, application softwareor the end user.

An embodiment of a single board card interacting with a motherboard cardis described more with respect to FIGS. 10-11.

FIG. 2 illustrates a preferred embodiment of an originator/recipientarchitecture implementing the VeriFIDES system. As illustrated, anoriginator 2000 comprises at least one document application 2002, anoperating system 2004, a VeriFIDES OS 2020 and trusted hardware 2006.The VeriFIDES OS 2020 further comprises a public key 2008, an encryptionmechanism 2010, a secret key 2012, a secondary encryption mechanism 2016and an original document 2014.

The VeriFIDES OS 2020 is operable to first encrypt a secret key 2012 viaencryption mechanism 2010. This encrypted secret key is stored as aticket allowing access to content protected by the originator. Thesecret key 2012 is also operable to encrypt a document 2014 viaencryption mechanism 2016.

The generated ticket 2200 and cipher document 2300 are transmitted to arecipient machine 2100 containing an architecture similar to theoriginator machine 2000. As illustrated, a recipient machine 2100comprises a document application 2102, an operating system 2104, aVeriFIDES operating system 2121 and trusted hardware 2106.

Upon receipt of the encrypted ticket 2200 and cipher doc 2300, theVeriFIDES OS 2121 is operable to decrypt the ticket 2200 with the samepublic key 2108 via decryption mechanism 2110. VeriFIDES OS 2121 is alsooperable to decrypt cipher doe 2300 via secret key 2112 throughdecryption mechanism 2116. The resulting document 2114 is provided tothe user via operating system 2104 and document application 2102.

As mentioned above, the VeriFIDES operating system (including accesscontrol and encryption/decryption) exist at a level transparent to theguest sessions. Thus, the data encryption keys (which are stored inencrypted tickets) only exist in decrypted form in the RAM on the mainmotherboard. The RAM on the single board computer card never containsthese keys.

In an alternative embodiment and as another layer of protection, aSunPCi card may be used in the system and running another version ofLinux, which is then used to rdesktop into the guest. The user only everinteracts with this rdesktop session. Therefore, even if the user weremalicious and attempted to break out of the rdesktop session, they wouldhave two layers to get through to get to sensitive information; fromrdesktop to the Linux on the card, and then from Linux on the card toLinux on the host. This provides a good layer of security.

FIG. 10 illustrates an alternative embodiment utilizing a remote desktopdesign for implementing the VeriFIDES system. As illustrated, a desktopPC running a version of Linux 1001 comprises a VeriFIDES access controlmodule 1008, a plurality of Windows sessions executing in separateVMware processes 1009 and a plurality of output devices 1010. Thedesktop PC 1001 is communicatively coupled to a VeriFIDES card runninganother instance of Linux 1002. The VeriFIDES card comprises anon-transparent PCI bridge 1004, a plurality of remote desktop clientsessions 1003 and a plurality of input devices 1004. As illustrated, theremote desktop sessions 1003 are coupled to the desktop PC 1001 viaremote desktop connection 1007 over the PCI bus. Furthermore, thenon-transparent PCI bridge 1004 is connected to the VeriFIDES accesscontrol mechanism 1006 via the Linux hard disk 1006 and PCI bus.

A plurality of users may access the desktop PC via the remote sessions1003. The VeriFIDES access control 1008 monitors the usage of usersutilizing the desktop PC to ensure that malicious attempts are preventedas previous discussed. User input and output is routed from the remotesessions 1003 through the non-transparent PCI bridge 1004. Subsequently,any user input is routed from the non-transparent PCI bridge 1004 to theVeriFIDES access control 1008, thus eliminating the threat of misuseduring input/output operations.

FIG. 11 provides an alternative embodiment for providing sessionconnections to the VeriFIDES enabled PC. FIG. 11 provides two entities,the desktop PC running a scaled down trusted version of Linux 1102 andthe VeriFIDES Card running a plurality of Microsoft Windows sessions1101. A scaled down version of Linux would merely provide device driversand minimal services required to interface with the hardware. A versionof trusted Linux (SE, HP, etc.) could be used while stripping outcomponents that are unnecessary for VeriFIDES, including X Windows,multi-user capability, network services, and others. “Userland” could beremoved from Linux altogether and VeriFIDES code incorporated into thescaled-down kernel directly.

A user connects to the VeriFIDES PC via user devices 1107. Thescaled-down Linux is only accessible from the guest sessions 1101 viathe device drivers that are exported to the guest sessions. Thesedrivers will interface over the PCI bus with the corresponding driversrunning in the scaled-down Linux. The Linux device drivers need to bevalidated and trusted, to ensure that they do not provide a “back door”for the Windows sessions.

User input/output is handled by the non-transparent PCI bridge 1103. Thenon-transparent bridge 1103 handles all user interaction and handles therouting of protected data 1105 and Window sessions data 1106. Asdiscussed previously, protected data 1105 and session data 1106 are allintercepted by the VeriFIDES access control 1104 resident on the desktopPC 1102. The VeriFIDES access control 1104 determines the authenticityand validity of each request for data devices 1108 made by a userconnecting through the VeriFIDES card 1101, thus preventing invalidaccess.

In terms of external threats to Linux (via the network interface), theVeriFIDES infrastructure will be intercepting network packetsimmediately after they come off of the network interface before they aredelivered to any guest sessions 104 and 105 or the VeriFIDES operatingsystem 103. This mechanism will determine authenticity of the source, aswell as enforce access control, preventing unauthorized hosts fromconnecting to the machine. The packet interceptor for example may be asmall piece of code (under 10K lines of code) that can be hand verifiedto ensure that it is not susceptible to attacks.

FIG. 12 illustrates a method according to an embodiment of the inventionfor monitoring incoming network packets. As illustrated in FIG. 12,packets are received and queued, step 1201. A determination is firstmade whether the current packet is allowed within the VeriFIDES system,1202. If the packet is restricted, it is dropped 1203. If the packet isallowed, it is checked for an IP security header, 1204. If the packetdoes not contain an IP security header, it is determined whether or notits destination is a VeriFIDES service port, 1208. If the destination isa service port, it is routed to the appropriate service, 1211 such asticket requests or audit records. If not, the destination is rewritten,1209 and the packet is placed back on the TCP/IP stack, 1210.

If the packet contains an IP security header, the header is stripped offthe packet and the payload is decrypted as previously described, 1205. Afinal check is performed to determine if the destination is a VeriFIDESproxy port, 1206. If the destination is not a proxy port, thedestination is again rewritten, 1209, and the packet is placed back onthe TCP/IP stack, 1210. If the destination is, in fact, a proxy port,the packet is routed to the VeriFIDES proxy applications, 1207.

FIG. 13 illustrates a method in accordance with one embodiment formonitoring outgoing network packets. As illustrated in FIG. 13, a packetis first received and determined if it is destined for the externalnetwork, 1301. If the packet is not for an external network, it isrouted to the appropriate VeriFIDES service, such as I/O, Tray, or Iconservices, 1305. If the packet is destined for the external network, itis determined whether it is from an unclassified session, step 1302.

If the packet is not from an unclassified session, a check is made as towhether the packet is destined for a VeriFIDES proxy port, step 1303. Ifit is, it is forwarded to an appropriate proxy application 1304 and thenadded to the queue, 1308. If the packet is not destined for a proxyport, it is immediately added to the queue 1308. Furthermore, if thepacket is from an unclassified section, it is added straight to thequeue, 1308.

A check is then made as to whether the packet is allowed out of thesystem, 1309. If the packet is not allowed out, it is dropped, 1310.When the packet is allowed out of the system a check is made as towhether the packet originated locally, 1311. If the packet did notoriginate locally, the source address is rewritten, 1312 and a check ismade to determine if the packet came from an unclassified section, 1315.

If the non-local packet is from an unclassified section it is placed onthe TCP/IP stack, 1316. If it is from a classified section, IP securityheader information is added to the packed and the payload is encrypted,1314. Subsequently the encrypted packet is added to the TCP/IP stack,1316.

If a packet is determined to have originated locally, 1311, the packetis then checked to determine if its destination is a VeriFIDES proxyport, 1313. If the destination is a proxy port, IP security headerinformation is attached, 1314 and the packet is added to the TCP/IPstack, 1316. If the destination is not a proxy port, the packet issimply added to the TCP/IP stack, 1316.

The only I/O on the single board computer card may be keyboard, video,mouse, and the PCI interface to the main motherboard. That PCI interfaceconsists of a non-transparent PCI bridge that is only programmable fromthe main motherboard's side. The card, designed to specifications, wouldbe trusted hardware.

As explained earlier, references to RAM generally refer to the RAM onthe motherboard (accessible only by Linux and VeriFIDES access control),as well as the RAM on the single board computer card (accessible only bythe Windows sessions).

The previously mentioned private key would be stored on the motherboard,for example using something like Trusted Platform Module (TPM)technology.

The VeriFIDES system presented provides numerous advantages over theexisting art. First, hackers are prevented from gaining access to datawithout a ticket or with a forged ticket. The data are encrypted, andthe key needed to decrypt them is contained within the ticket. Without aticket, the user is left with a hard drive full of encrypted gibberish.

Furthermore, tickets are bound to a particular machine via apublic/private key pair as specified in the original patent. In someembodiments, VeriFIDES depends on a public key validation mechanism,similar to a trusted certificate authority such as Verisign. A hackercould generate a bogus ticket, but since it couldn't contain thedecryption key, it would be useless. What could be spoofed is someonesupplying a bogus public key to a ticket server to obtain a ticketallowing a user to decrypt a ticket.

In addition, there is a process for determining whether a particularuser had the proper key to decrypt and access the data: All VeriFIDESprotected data have a statistically unique random binding associatedwith the encrypted bytes. This binding is also contained in the ticket,ensuring a match between data and a ticket. The initial specification ofa ticket includes the symmetric key to decrypt the data, a binding, anda set of permissions/access rights.

Retaining a ticket is analogous to going to a movie or sporting event.The ticket-taker rips the ticket in half and gives back a stub. When auser adds a VeriFIDES ticket, the access control mechanism keeps apermanent record of that ticket and returns a “stub” to the user. Inthis fashion, the user is prevented from “re-adding” that ticket sinceVeriFIDES knows that it was already used. Thus, if a ticket specifiesthat a user can only see a file 5 times, they cannot use that tickettwice to get 10 viewings.

To perform ‘state-based’ access control, when a ticket is used, theVeriFIDES access control mechanism retains a portion of the ticket. Thissection of the ticket will never be seen or accessed again by the user,and corresponds to a ticket collector at a movie theater or sportingevent retaining half of a ticket and returning a ticket stub. Thisallows the access control mechanism to store state information (such asnumber of accesses, number of copies, number of hard copies, etc.)inside that portion of the ticket. When the user has reached whateverlimits may have been specified within the original ticket, the accesscontrol mechanism will prevent further access to the data. If the accesscontrol mechanism does not retain a portion of the ticket, users couldcircumvent ‘state-based’ restrictions by making copies of their tickets.Thus, if a ticket specified that data could be accessed once, a usercould make 10 copies of the ticket, allowing them to actually access thedata 10 times.

FIG. 9 comprises a diagram illustrating how VeriFIDES can be used tolimit the sphere of compromise of data. In the event of compromise, itcan be known exactly what files a particular user had tickets(decryption keys) for, when those files were accessed, and what type ofaccess (view, copy, print, etc.) occurred.

For limiting the sphere of compromise, with VeriFIDES, the audit andlogging functions occurring below the operating system give a muchhigher degree of assurance and a higher fidelity of data. Additionally,as all data are encrypted and accessed with tickets, it can be knownwhether a particular user even had the key to decrypt and accessprotected data, giving greater confidence that data have not beencompromised.

For ‘state-based’ access control, with VeriFIDES, we can provide ahigher degree of assurance that ‘state-based’ permissions are beingenforced since the state information is being stored in a locationcompletely inaccessible to the user. Ticket Stubs allow the system toenforce “state-based” access control, such as controlling the number oftimes data are accessed, printed, copied, etc. This can have a hugebenefit for entertainment content by enforcing the number of times amovie/game can be played. Limiting the sphere of compromise can alsoprovide enormous financial benefits both to the government and thecommercial worlds. In the event that data are compromised, VeriFIDES candrastically reduce the scope of data to be examined/concerned about.

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the VeriFIDES systemcomprising a motherboard 301 and a communicatively coupled processingboard 302. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the VeriFIDES system is implementedas a co-processor on a board. A board 302 containing a processor couldbe inserted into the computer. This board would contain dual I/Ochannels for every type of I/O controller present on the mother board(or peripheral cards) 301. All I/O would be re-routed from themotherboard/peripheral cards to inputs of the card containing theco-processor. The output ports of the card would be connected to theactual I/O devices. In this manner, all I/O would be routed through theaccess control software running on the processor on the board, thusimplementing VeriFIDES functionality.

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the VeriFIDES systemcomprising VeriFIDES logic implemented as a PCI bridge. As illustratedin FIG. 4, the VeriFIDES system is implemented as a PCI bridge 403.Elements 401-406 comprise a CPU, north bridge, random access memory,advanced graphics processor, PCI devices and south bridge, respectively.These elements are well known in the art and comprise a standardarchitecture for a computing device.

As illustrated, the VeriFIDES system is implemented within a PCI bridge407 resident immediately after the north bridge 402. By incorporatingadditional processing capability into a PCI bridge, the access controlmechanism can be executed within the bridge. The access control softwarewould be responsible for interpreting the PCI bus traffic, determiningwhat to do with I/O data (encrypt, decrypt, block, etc.), and thenre-forwarding the I/O data to the CPU and/or main memory.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the VeriFIDES systemcomprising the VeriFIDES system implemented as a co-processor. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, the VeriFIDES system is implemented as aco-processor 402. In this dual processor architecture, the operatingsystem executes on one processor 401 and the access control softwareexecutes on the second 402. The architecture defines a special bus 403between the two processors for transferring interrupts, programmed I/O,and BIOS information from the access control CPU 402 to the operatingsystem CPU 401. The access control CPU communicates with the rest of thecomputer hardware 404-408 in a traditional manner known to those in theart.

The architecture includes a dual port memory 405-406 with specialaddress translation hardware 404 preventing the OS CPU 401 fromaccessing portions of memory containing the access control program,crypto keys, and other data that needs hiding 405.

It is known to use a co-Processor and hypervisor software. Also, SunMicrosystems has a product, the Sun PCI card, that is a full PC on acard that interacts with the Solaris Operating system via specialWindows device drivers. The full PC functionality on the card would notbe needed in the present embodiment nor new device drivers for Windows.The methods of the prior art require backing and support of computermanufacturers. In addition, Type 1 virtual machine software requiressignificant expertise and is difficult to write. A virtual machine doesnot provide many of the programming ‘services’ that a traditional OSdoes, making the implementation of VeriFIDES business logic much moredifficult.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary system of the present inventioncomprising the VeriFIDES system residing on a separate peripheral card.A card is installed containing its own memory 602, processor 601, andvideo out 608. This card will be responsible for running the ‘guest’operating system (typically MS Windows). The main computer will run amodified version of Linux that will export ‘virtual’ representations ofall I/O devices attached to the computer. Linux will be responsible forintercepting all I/O and performing VeriFIDES business logic (encrypt,decrypt, block, watermark, etc.). The VeriFIDES card will also need tocontain a special filter, that will prevent the CPU on the card fromdiscovering the real I/O devices attached to the bus, and only allowdata from our ‘virtual’ devices exported by Linux.

FIG. 7 illustrates a further embodiment of a guest operating systemrunning on a card connected to a main computer. As illustrated, SunPCIcard 702 is connected to a main board running Linux 701 via a networkconnection between NIC 704 and NIC 705. The SunPCI card 702 allows foruser interaction via USB and VGA ports connected to user devices 703.

All user interaction is processed from NIC 704 to NIC 705 and isreceived by network bridge 706. Network bridge 706 forwards all requeststo access control 709 which verifies the authenticity of the requestsand forwards data to the session transition module 707 or the devicedriver 708. The host hard drive 710 is operable to receive request fromthe device driver 708 and return requested data to the SunPCI card 702in accordance with the access control 709 policies. Access control 709is further operable to receive external network requests from a network712 through NIC 711 and network bridge 706. As described, networkrequests may be monitored and verified by access control 709 prior totheir acceptance by the VeriFIDES system.

The previously presented embodiments allow PC's to be upgraded withVeriFIDES functionality, rather than having to incorporate VeriFIDESinto newly manufactured PC's. Additionally, because VeriFIDES businesslogic would be running within an operating system such as Linux ratherthan a virtual machine, a large volume of software libraries andservices are available for use that greatly simplify VeriFIDESdevelopment. This method provides a way to upgrade existing computerswith VeriFIDES functionality by inserting a board and re-installingWindows. This method does not require the backing of computer/BIOSmanufacturers to deploy VeriFIDES.

Notably, the figures and examples above are not meant to limit the scopeof the present invention to a single embodiment, as other embodimentsare possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described orillustrated elements. Moreover, where certain elements of the presentinvention can be partially or fully implemented using known components,only those portions of such known components that are necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention are described, and detaileddescriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted soas not to obscure the invention. In the present specification, anembodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily belimited to other embodiments including a plurality of the samecomponent, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein.Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification orclaims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitlyset forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses presentand future known equivalents to the known components referred to hereinby way of illustration.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments so fully revealsthe general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the relevant art(s) (including thecontents of the documents cited and incorporated by reference herein),readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specificembodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from thegeneral concept of the present invention. Such adaptations andmodifications are therefore intended to be within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light ofthe teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with theknowledge of one skilled in the relevant art(s).

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample, and not limitation. It would be apparent to one skilled in therelevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail could be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A method for protecting data on a computing system, themethod comprising: executing, under a trusted operating system, anaccess control component that controls access to protected data;identifying, by the access control component, an input or outputhardware component of the computing system, the input or output hardwarecomponent accessible by a guest operating system different from thetrusted operating system; disabling, by the access control component,the identified input or output hardware component by blocking one ormore communications with the identified input or output hardwarecomponent through one or more virtual representations of devicesattached to the computing system to preclude access to the identifiedinput or output hardware component by the guest operating system; inresponse to disabling the identified input or output hardware component,sending, by the access control component, a decryption key to the guestoperating system; and accessing, by at least one software applicationrunning under the guest operating system, the protected data, whereinthe at least one software application is permitted to access theprotected data through use of the decryption key received from theaccess control component.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theprotected data is protected by being encrypted, and wherein the trustedoperating system is configured to use the decryption key to decrypt theprotected data in accordance with one or more rules specified in aticket provided by the access control component.
 3. The method of claim2, wherein the ticket is a user authentication ticket identifying a userthe ticket applies to and defining permissions indicating usagerestrictions for the user to access the protected data.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the ticket is a host authentication ticket specifying aplurality of public keys, each public key associated with one of aplurality of computing apparatuses having a hardware-embedded privatekey, the host authentication ticket configured to facilitatecommunication between the computing system and one or more of theplurality of computing apparatuses.
 5. The method of claim 2, whereinthe ticket is a connection data ticket identifying a connection forcommunications between the computing system and another computingapparatus and specifying a key for encrypting network traffic using theconnection.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trusted operatingsystem is configured to store the decryption key only on a mainmotherboard of the computing system.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: detecting an attempt to tamper with the computing system;and in response to the detecting the attempt to tamper with thecomputing system, deleting the decryption key.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the trusted operating system comprises a version of a Linuxoperating system.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein disabling theidentified input or output hardware component comprises one or more of:disabling use of a printing device; disabling use of a media drive;disabling use of one or more USB interfaces; or any combination thereof.10. The method of claim 1 wherein the guest operating system differentfrom the trusted operating system operates on one or more computer cardscoupled to a motherboard of the computing system via a communicationsbus, the one or more computer cards including one or more secondprocessors and a second memory.
 11. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: re-routing input and output between a motherboard andperipheral cards to go through a board connected to the motherboard;wherein disabling the identified input or output hardware component isperformed on the board connected to the motherboard.
 12. The method ofclaim 1 wherein disabling the identified input or output hardwarecomponent is performed by blocking, with a processing capabilityincorporated into a PCI bridge, input and/or output requests.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the guest operating system is executed by aperipheral card connected to a motherboard of the computing system; andwherein the peripheral card has access to the input or output hardwarecomponent through one or more virtual representations of devicesattached to the computing system.
 14. A computer-readable storage mediumthat is not a signal per se which stores instructions that, whenexecuted by a computing system, cause the computing system to performoperations for protecting data, the operations comprising: executing,under a trusted operating system, an access control component thatcontrols access to protected data; identifying, by the access controlcomponent, an input or output hardware component of the computingsystem, the input or output hardware component accessible by a guestoperating system different from the trusted operating system; disabling,by the access control component, the identified input or output hardwarecomponent by blocking one or more communications with the identifiedinput or output hardware component through one or more virtualrepresentations of devices attached to the computing system to precludeaccess to the identified input or output hardware component by the questoperating system; in response to disabling the identified input oroutput hardware component, sending, by the access control component, adecryption key to the guest operating system; and accessing, by at leastone software application running under the guest operating system, theprotected data, wherein the at least one software application ispermitted to access the protected data through use of the decryption keyreceived from the access control component.
 15. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:detecting an attempt to tamper with the computing system; and inresponse to the detecting, deleting the decryption key.
 16. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein disabling theidentified input or output hardware component comprises one or more of:disabling use of a printing device; disabling use of a media drive;disabling use of one or more USB interfaces; or any combination thereof.17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein theoperations further comprise re-routing input and output between amotherboard and peripheral cards to go through a board connected to themotherboard; and wherein disabling the identified input or outputhardware component is performed on the board connected to themotherboard.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14,wherein the guest operating system is executed by a peripheral cardconnected to a motherboard of the computing system; and wherein theperipheral card has access to the input or output hardware componentthrough one or more virtual representations of devices attached to thecomputing system.
 19. A computing system comprising: one or moreprocessors; a memory; one or more input or output hardware components;and an access control component executed under a trusted operatingsystem configured to control access to protected data by: identifying aninput or output hardware component, of the one or more input or outputhardware components, wherein the identified input or output hardwarecomponent is accessible by a guest operating system different from thetrusted operating system; disabling the identified input or outputhardware component by blocking one or more communications with theidentified input or output hardware component through one or morevirtual representations of devices attached to the computing system topreclude access to the identified input or output hardware component bythe guest operating system; in response to disabling the identifiedinput or output hardware component, sending a decryption key to theguest operating system; and accessing, by at least one softwareapplication running under the guest operating system, the protecteddata, wherein the at least one software application is permitted toaccess the protected data through use of the decryption key receivedfrom the access control component.
 20. The computing system of claim 19wherein the access control component is further configured to: detect anattempt to tamper with the computing system; and in response todetecting the attempt to tamper with the computing system, delete thedecryption key.
 21. The computing system of claim 19 wherein disablingthe identified input or output hardware component comprises one or moreof: disabling use of a printing device; disabling use of a media drive;disabling use of one or more USB interfaces; or any combination thereof.